Everything I've Ever Needed to Know I've Learnt from Climbing Up Things: Commandment III

Thou shalt accept that things will go wrong so just deal with it.

There is a time in every traveller’s life when they will have a shocker. Can’t be helped, it’s inevitable, usually brought on by weather (see Commandment Seven) or other people (see Commandment Five). Apart from weather, people and altitude, there are other hazards that require some caution, like village dogs. Cycling through the Tibetan Himalayas, mastifs litter the road side, sleeping, and are best left to lie unless the thought of rabies injections is something that appeals to you. My closest encounter came in a village when, finally giving into irritation at yet another attempt by kids to see what would happen to the funny looking foreigner if they put a stick through my wheels, I had an attack of PUTA. PUTA, better known as a dummy spit when cultural difference gets too much for frail Western temperaments, stands for Psychologically Unfit to Travel in Asia. Surprisingly, this is an actual medical condition noted in World Expedition's handy medical manual. My PUTA led to kids screaming which woke drooling mastifs, who saw my plump legs. My screaming alerted the village elders who yelled at the children to rescue me. Arms, legs, language, rocks and dog fur flew through the air. Here endeth the lesson.